A collection of my annotations from the class' group wiki (Kenton Larsen):
1. Screencast iPad screencasting comparison by Jack de Haan http://www.techwithintent.com/2012/02/ipad-screencasting-apps-comparison-chart/
An excellent chart and comparison of the different screencasting options available on the iPad. De Haan compares five iPad app possibilities, which range in price from free to $4.99, to 24 possible features, including the ability to record audio, import PDFs, undo, embed, and upload to YouTube. (Kenton Larsen)
2. Video blogs Google+ Hangouts On Air - What Marketers Need to Know by Mike Delago http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-hangouts-on-air-guide/
There are many Google+ naysayers, and I was one of them ("where is everyone?"), but Google+ Hangouts may be its killer feature. As Mike Delago explains in this article, Google+ Hangouts takes video blogging and makes it better by allowing for two-way communication and live streaming. You can also capture video, edit, share, and post your video blogs to YouTube. (Kenton Larsen)
3. Blogs The Marketer's Guide to Blogging by Neil Patel http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/03/22/marketers-guide-to-blogging/
This is perhaps the best blogging resource I've seen online. It's a complete guide to blogging, starting with why blogging is still important (there is plenty who say it's not) and covering such salient topics as content, monetization, blog topics, SEO, social media, and comments. And - best of all - it's written in blog-post format (though perhaps a bit longer than the average blog post). (Kenton Larsen)
4. Twitter Twitter for small business: a guide for getting started https://business.twitter.com/smallbiz/
Ostensibly a guide for small businesses that want to engage with clients on Twitter, this is the best Twitter guide "for anyone" I've read, all the better for coming from the horse's mouth. Includes many things that even seasoned Twitter users forget, like the anatomy of a tweet, the importance of listening, how to promote, and measure impact. (Kenton Larsen)
5. Flickr My friend Flickr: a great photo opportunity by Amy Standen http://www.edutopia.org/flickr-social-networks-sharing-photographs
This article from Edutopia explains how to use Flicker with students in an "educationally thrilling but fundamentally ungovernable" environment. The article explains many of the issues that a K to 12 teacher will need to consider before letting students loose on the site, and the reasons why, despite these issues, it's probably still worth it. (Kenton Larsen)
6. DST How to use digital storytelling in the classroom by Jennifer New http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom
This how-to article for instructors, from Edutopia, is a companion piece to another excellent article: Film school: making movies from storyboard to screen (http://www.edutopia.org/film-school). The article outlines seven basic tips for integrating movie-making into the classroom, including the importance of learning by trial and error, not being intimidated if your students are faster learners than you are, and presenting (and celebrating) the students' work when they're done. (Kenton Larsen)
7. YouTube YouTube to the Rescue by Rob Weir http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/03/21/essay-how-use-youtube-teaching-tool
This article, from Inside Higher Ed, is directed to experienced teachers "looking to try something different, or...whose circumstances have changed." Weir describes how he uses embedded YouTube videos in PowerPoint presentations in his classroom, and how it works as part of a robust teaching and training curriculum. He's also started making his own YouTube videos in iMovie, and ends the article with some useful tips for teachers planning on doing the same. (Kenton Larsen)
8. IM: Instant Messaging: Friend or Foe of Student Writing? By Amanda O'Connor http://education.jhu.edu/research/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/instant-messaging/index.html
I particularly like this article from Johns Hopkins University School of Education, because it looks at both sides of the effects of IM on student writing and classroom teaching - "it's a valuable learning tool" versus "it's a bastardization of the English language." The author also writes about the potential of IM as a learning tool and gives examples of teachers using students' newfound interest in the written word as a way to harness engagement, communicate, and teach the importance of "writing for an audience." (Kenton Larsen)
9. Podcasting Listening to themselves: podcasting takes lessons beyond the classroom, by Maya Payne Smart http://www.edutopia.org/podcasting-student-broadcasts
This inspirational article from Edutopia takes us to Brent Coley's fifth-grade class to show us how one teacher uses podcasts to increase their knowledge, engagementm and communication skills. The article walks us through the software Coley uses, the kinds of projects the class produces (http://mrcoley.com/coleycast/index.htm), and his philosophy of student-created podcasts. (Kenton Larsen)
10. RSS readers: RSS Readers for the iPad http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/rss-readers-for-the-ipad
Technology is moving so fast that the RSS chapter in the Richardson book negates mentioning the easiest way to follow RSS - on the iPad, using any number of RSS reader apps. This recent article from appadvice.com is a great companion piece to the Richardson chapter, showing some of the latest and greatest iPad reader apps, including Mr. Reader, Feeddler RSS Reader, and Flipboard, the free app that was named iPad's 2010 App of the Year, and Time Magazine's Top 50 inventions of 2010. (Kenton Larsen)
11. Skype Skype in the Classroom http://twiducate.com/blog/2012/06/
This recent article from Twiducate is about a new Skype tool (developed by Skype itself) called "Skype in the classroom," which has just been widely released after beta testing. The tool blends Skype with new features for classroom collaboration and projects, links, videos, and tips. In addition, this article has a short-and-sweet list about "what makes Skype so valuable to teachers" and links to three other articles, which provide more examples of how to use Skype in the classroom. (Kenton Larsen)
12. Wikis A. PD for teachers (like students do it) by Will Richardson http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/pd-for-teachers-like-students-do-it/
This short-and-sweet blog post on our author Will Richardson's former blog is one of my favorites. His prescription for teachers' success on "your next PD day" involves using a wiki page and scheduling sessions in computer rooms. I won't spoil the punchline. (Kenton Larsen)
Because that's a short post, I'm also posting this more exhaustive one:
B. 50 ways to use Wikis for a more collaborative and interactive classroom http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/
This is a great post from Smartteaching.org, which outlines virtually every possible use for wikis in the classroom, under the headings "resource creation," "student participation," "group projects," "student interaction," "for the classroom," "community," and "other." Ideas include "virtual field trips," "exam review," "fan clubs," data collection, "adventure story," "school tour," and "teacher collaboration." Lots and lots to read through here, and it's all fantastic. (Kenton Larsen)
13. Wikipedia Wikipedia in the Newsroom by Donna Shaw http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461
This excellent article from the American Journalism Review tackles an issue that is extremely contentious among my colleagues at school: can students in a journalism program cite Wikipedia in an article or even use it as a source of information? Shaw outlines both sides of the argument - and all the various shades between the two extremes - from a wide variety of journalists working in the industry. Fascinating discussion. (Kenton Larsen)
14. Facebook Ruling Facebookistan by Rebecca MacKinnon http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/13/governing_facebookistan?page=0,0
Facebook is the world's largest social-networking site, but it has a strange habit of shutting down activists' accounts and (sometimes) reactivating them again, without explanation. If not about Facebook's use in "education" directly, this article from Foreign Policy is classroom-discussion ready and worth pondering for anyone with a Facebook account. What is Facebook's responsibility toward its users and their personal data? Is freedom of speech on Facebook a basic human right? And how do we, as Facebook users, register our displeasure with what we perceive as breaches? (Kenton Larsen)
15. Social Bookmarks Understanding Content Curation http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/07/07/understanding-content-curation/
At their heart, social bookmark sites are examples of "content curation" - the practice of collecting, filtering, and sharing online content in your area of expertise (I wrote about it on my blog last week! http://www.kentonlarsen.com/2012/07/scoopit-content-curation-meets.html). In this blog post on the Innovations in Education website, our author writes about content curation in the classroom, differentiates it from "collecting," and explains how to encourage higher-order curation in the classroom for utmost "information literacy." Some compelling infographics here. (Kenton Larsen)
16. Ning Ning in the Education Department: The Writing's on the Blackboard by Jason Rand http://www.ning.com/blog/2011/08/ning-in-the-education-department-the-writings-on-the-blackboard.html
Ning bills itself as "the world's largest platform for creating social websites." On this post on the Ning blog, Jason Rand gives a good overview of the service and highlights how instructors can use Ning in the classroom to bridge "the online conversations with the real world ones happening in the classroom." The blog post ends with an interesting five-minute video that shows how Maine's Yarmouth High School uses Ning to hand in homework, talk, and even share work with students in China. (Kenton Larsen)
17. Collaborative editing Microsoft Office 15 aims at Google Docs' cloud advantage by Jason Gilbert http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/microsoft-office-15_n_1679402.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
As Yoda might have said, "Begun the collaborative editing wars have." This recent article in the Huffington Post talks about the Google/Microsoft rivalry and how Microsoft has aimed its latest operating system directly at Google Docs. Docs' big advantage has been to make your documents accessible from wherever you are. Asks Gilbert: "How many work travelers, road warriors and fidgety college students did Google steal from Microsoft with that simple idea?" So, on Microsoft's latest operating system, users can log in to Microsoft Word and save files to its SkyDrive cloud. This likely isn't enough to beat back Google Docs in the classroom - Google Docs are free. For students, that's a magical word. (Kenton Larsen)
18. Google apps Privacy controversy mars Google Apps rollout at Canadian University by Brian Jackson http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/Home/News.asp?id=50660
This article talks about the experience of Lakehead, the first Canadian university to use Google apps. The faculty protested having their emails hosted by a U.S. company in the belief that their emails would be scrutinized by the Patriot Act. Ultimately, the arbitrator acknowledged their concern but allowed Google Apps to continue to be used (Update: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=53561). Interestingly, the original article embeds a Google Apps YouTube video called, "Why use Google Apps for Education?" (http://youtu.be/IRYRbPCHTck) - also worth a look. (Kenton Larsen)
19. Lulu Teachers write their own textbooks, publish through Lulu.com to save money http://lulupresscenter.com/press/view/release/teachers
This is a very interesting news release from Lulu.com itself, because it shows how Lulu markets itself to educational institutions as a cost-savings measure - allowing teachers to publish their own textbooks instead of "having to slash their budget due to a lack of funds." As a PR teacher, I find this news release to be an interesting look into how Lulu positions itself. (Kenton Larsen)
20. Augmented reality Getting learning out of the classroom with augmented reality by Nik Peachey http://nikpeachey.blogspot.ca/2012/04/getting-learning-out-of-classroom-with.html
In this post from Nik Peachey's blog, he writes about using augmented reality in the classroom, most notably by using the Woices or Layar apps. Woices lets you record, upload, and tag audio files. Woices remembers where you were when you posted it, so others with the app can go to that location and listen to your recording. Layar is similar, allowing users to find Wikipedia entries that coincide with specific locations. He ties these in with some great educational suggestions (treasure hunt!) and reminds us to make sure students don't leave too much information (home location, etc). I'm going to give both of these apps a try. (Kenton Larsen)
21. Virtual worlds Testing virtual reality in the classroom by Tori DeAngelis http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/05/virtual.aspx
This very interesting article from the American Psychological Association explores how technology can help students in the classroom. Our author looks at Jeremy Bailenson's intro psych class and finds that virtual worlds can help students pay closer attention and perform to higher standards. Further, virtual worlds can help people get motivated to exercise and learn how to dance. (Kenton Larsen)
22. Second Life How Students Use Second Life For Digital Learning by Ruben Carbo http://edudemic.com/2012/02/internet-classrooms-using-second-life-for-virtual-learning/
In this article from Edudemic, Ruben Carbo writes about a study at the University of Texas at Austin, which looked at an English class that was taught using Second Life. The article explains the way the class was structured and summarizes the researchers' recommendations for using Second Life as a classroom tool. (Kenton Larsen)
1. Screencast
iPad screencasting comparison by Jack de Haan
http://www.techwithintent.com/2012/02/ipad-screencasting-apps-comparison-chart/
An excellent chart and comparison of the different screencasting options available on the iPad. De Haan compares five iPad app possibilities, which range in price from free to $4.99, to 24 possible features, including the ability to record audio, import PDFs, undo, embed, and upload to YouTube. (Kenton Larsen)
2. Video blogs
Google+ Hangouts On Air - What Marketers Need to Know by Mike Delago
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-hangouts-on-air-guide/
There are many Google+ naysayers, and I was one of them ("where is everyone?"), but Google+ Hangouts may be its killer feature. As Mike Delago explains in this article, Google+ Hangouts takes video blogging and makes it better by allowing for two-way communication and live streaming. You can also capture video, edit, share, and post your video blogs to YouTube. (Kenton Larsen)
3. Blogs
The Marketer's Guide to Blogging by Neil Patel
http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/03/22/marketers-guide-to-blogging/
This is perhaps the best blogging resource I've seen online. It's a complete guide to blogging, starting with why blogging is still important (there is plenty who say it's not) and covering such salient topics as content, monetization, blog topics, SEO, social media, and comments. And - best of all - it's written in blog-post format (though perhaps a bit longer than the average blog post). (Kenton Larsen)
4. Twitter
Twitter for small business: a guide for getting started
https://business.twitter.com/smallbiz/
Ostensibly a guide for small businesses that want to engage with clients on Twitter, this is the best Twitter guide "for anyone" I've read, all the better for coming from the horse's mouth. Includes many things that even seasoned Twitter users forget, like the anatomy of a tweet, the importance of listening, how to promote, and measure impact. (Kenton Larsen)
5. Flickr
My friend Flickr: a great photo opportunity by Amy Standen
http://www.edutopia.org/flickr-social-networks-sharing-photographs
This article from Edutopia explains how to use Flicker with students in an "educationally thrilling but fundamentally ungovernable" environment. The article explains many of the issues that a K to 12 teacher will need to consider before letting students loose on the site, and the reasons why, despite these issues, it's probably still worth it. (Kenton Larsen)
6. DST
How to use digital storytelling in the classroom by Jennifer New
http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom
This how-to article for instructors, from Edutopia, is a companion piece to another excellent article: Film school: making movies from storyboard to screen (http://www.edutopia.org/film-school). The article outlines seven basic tips for integrating movie-making into the classroom, including the importance of learning by trial and error, not being intimidated if your students are faster learners than you are, and presenting (and celebrating) the students' work when they're done. (Kenton Larsen)
7. YouTube
YouTube to the Rescue by Rob Weir
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/03/21/essay-how-use-youtube-teaching-tool
This article, from Inside Higher Ed, is directed to experienced teachers "looking to try something different, or...whose circumstances have changed." Weir describes how he uses embedded YouTube videos in PowerPoint presentations in his classroom, and how it works as part of a robust teaching and training curriculum. He's also started making his own YouTube videos in iMovie, and ends the article with some useful tips for teachers planning on doing the same. (Kenton Larsen)
8. IM:
Instant Messaging: Friend or Foe of Student Writing? By Amanda O'Connor
http://education.jhu.edu/research/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/instant-messaging/index.html
I particularly like this article from Johns Hopkins University School of Education, because it looks at both sides of the effects of IM on student writing and classroom teaching - "it's a valuable learning tool" versus "it's a bastardization of the English language." The author also writes about the potential of IM as a learning tool and gives examples of teachers using students' newfound interest in the written word as a way to harness engagement, communicate, and teach the importance of "writing for an audience." (Kenton Larsen)
9. Podcasting
Listening to themselves: podcasting takes lessons beyond the classroom, by Maya Payne Smart
http://www.edutopia.org/podcasting-student-broadcasts
This inspirational article from Edutopia takes us to Brent Coley's fifth-grade class to show us how one teacher uses podcasts to increase their knowledge, engagementm and communication skills. The article walks us through the software Coley uses, the kinds of projects the class produces (http://mrcoley.com/coleycast/index.htm), and his philosophy of student-created podcasts. (Kenton Larsen)
10. RSS readers:
RSS Readers for the iPad
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/rss-readers-for-the-ipad
Technology is moving so fast that the RSS chapter in the Richardson book negates mentioning the easiest way to follow RSS - on the iPad, using any number of RSS reader apps. This recent article from appadvice.com is a great companion piece to the Richardson chapter, showing some of the latest and greatest iPad reader apps, including Mr. Reader, Feeddler RSS Reader, and Flipboard, the free app that was named iPad's 2010 App of the Year, and Time Magazine's Top 50 inventions of 2010. (Kenton Larsen)
11. Skype
Skype in the Classroom
http://twiducate.com/blog/2012/06/
This recent article from Twiducate is about a new Skype tool (developed by Skype itself) called "Skype in the classroom," which has just been widely released after beta testing. The tool blends Skype with new features for classroom collaboration and projects, links, videos, and tips. In addition, this article has a short-and-sweet list about "what makes Skype so valuable to teachers" and links to three other articles, which provide more examples of how to use Skype in the classroom. (Kenton Larsen)
12. Wikis
A. PD for teachers (like students do it) by Will Richardson
http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/pd-for-teachers-like-students-do-it/
This short-and-sweet blog post on our author Will Richardson's former blog is one of my favorites. His prescription for teachers' success on "your next PD day" involves using a wiki page and scheduling sessions in computer rooms. I won't spoil the punchline.
(Kenton Larsen)
Because that's a short post, I'm also posting this more exhaustive one:
B. 50 ways to use Wikis for a more collaborative and interactive classroom
http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/
This is a great post from Smartteaching.org, which outlines virtually every possible use for wikis in the classroom, under the headings "resource creation," "student participation," "group projects," "student interaction," "for the classroom," "community," and "other." Ideas include "virtual field trips," "exam review," "fan clubs," data collection, "adventure story," "school tour," and "teacher collaboration." Lots and lots to read through here, and it's all fantastic.
(Kenton Larsen)
13. Wikipedia
Wikipedia in the Newsroom by Donna Shaw
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461
This excellent article from the American Journalism Review tackles an issue that is extremely contentious among my colleagues at school: can students in a journalism program cite Wikipedia in an article or even use it as a source of information? Shaw outlines both sides of the argument - and all the various shades between the two extremes - from a wide variety of journalists working in the industry. Fascinating discussion.
(Kenton Larsen)
14. Facebook
Ruling Facebookistan by Rebecca MacKinnon
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/13/governing_facebookistan?page=0,0
Facebook is the world's largest social-networking site, but it has a strange habit of shutting down activists' accounts and (sometimes) reactivating them again, without explanation. If not about Facebook's use in "education" directly, this article from Foreign Policy is classroom-discussion ready and worth pondering for anyone with a Facebook account. What is Facebook's responsibility toward its users and their personal data? Is freedom of speech on Facebook a basic human right? And how do we, as Facebook users, register our displeasure with what we perceive as breaches? (Kenton Larsen)
15. Social Bookmarks
Understanding Content Curation
http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/07/07/understanding-content-curation/
At their heart, social bookmark sites are examples of "content curation" - the practice of collecting, filtering, and sharing online content in your area of expertise (I wrote about it on my blog last week! http://www.kentonlarsen.com/2012/07/scoopit-content-curation-meets.html). In this blog post on the Innovations in Education website, our author writes about content curation in the classroom, differentiates it from "collecting," and explains how to encourage higher-order curation in the classroom for utmost "information literacy." Some compelling infographics here. (Kenton Larsen)
16. Ning
Ning in the Education Department: The Writing's on the Blackboard by Jason Rand
http://www.ning.com/blog/2011/08/ning-in-the-education-department-the-writings-on-the-blackboard.html
Ning bills itself as "the world's largest platform for creating social websites." On this post on the Ning blog, Jason Rand gives a good overview of the service and highlights how instructors can use Ning in the classroom to bridge "the online conversations with the real world ones happening in the classroom." The blog post ends with an interesting five-minute video that shows how Maine's Yarmouth High School uses Ning to hand in homework, talk, and even share work with students in China. (Kenton Larsen)
17. Collaborative editing
Microsoft Office 15 aims at Google Docs' cloud advantage by Jason Gilbert
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/microsoft-office-15_n_1679402.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
As Yoda might have said, "Begun the collaborative editing wars have." This recent article in the Huffington Post talks about the Google/Microsoft rivalry and how Microsoft has aimed its latest operating system directly at Google Docs. Docs' big advantage has been to make your documents accessible from wherever you are. Asks Gilbert: "How many work travelers, road warriors and fidgety college students did Google steal from Microsoft with that simple idea?" So, on Microsoft's latest operating system, users can log in to Microsoft Word and save files to its SkyDrive cloud. This likely isn't enough to beat back Google Docs in the classroom - Google Docs are free. For students, that's a magical word. (Kenton Larsen)
18. Google apps
Privacy controversy mars Google Apps rollout at Canadian University by Brian Jackson
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/Home/News.asp?id=50660
This article talks about the experience of Lakehead, the first Canadian university to use Google apps. The faculty protested having their emails hosted by a U.S. company in the belief that their emails would be scrutinized by the Patriot Act. Ultimately, the arbitrator acknowledged their concern but allowed Google Apps to continue to be used (Update: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=53561). Interestingly, the original article embeds a Google Apps YouTube video called, "Why use Google Apps for Education?" (http://youtu.be/IRYRbPCHTck) - also worth a look. (Kenton Larsen)
19. Lulu
Teachers write their own textbooks, publish through Lulu.com to save money
http://lulupresscenter.com/press/view/release/teachers
This is a very interesting news release from Lulu.com itself, because it shows how Lulu markets itself to educational institutions as a cost-savings measure - allowing teachers to publish their own textbooks instead of "having to slash their budget due to a lack of funds." As a PR teacher, I find this news release to be an interesting look into how Lulu positions itself. (Kenton Larsen)
20. Augmented reality
Getting learning out of the classroom with augmented reality by Nik Peachey
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.ca/2012/04/getting-learning-out-of-classroom-with.html
In this post from Nik Peachey's blog, he writes about using augmented reality in the classroom, most notably by using the Woices or Layar apps. Woices lets you record, upload, and tag audio files. Woices remembers where you were when you posted it, so others with the app can go to that location and listen to your recording. Layar is similar, allowing users to find Wikipedia entries that coincide with specific locations. He ties these in with some great educational suggestions (treasure hunt!) and reminds us to make sure students don't leave too much information (home location, etc). I'm going to give both of these apps a try. (Kenton Larsen)
21. Virtual worlds
Testing virtual reality in the classroom by Tori DeAngelis
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/05/virtual.aspx
This very interesting article from the American Psychological Association explores how technology can help students in the classroom. Our author looks at Jeremy Bailenson's intro psych class and finds that virtual worlds can help students pay closer attention and perform to higher standards. Further, virtual worlds can help people get motivated to exercise and learn how to dance. (Kenton Larsen)
22. Second Life
How Students Use Second Life For Digital Learning by Ruben Carbo
http://edudemic.com/2012/02/internet-classrooms-using-second-life-for-virtual-learning/
In this article from Edudemic, Ruben Carbo writes about a study at the University of Texas at Austin, which looked at an English class that was taught using Second Life. The article explains the way the class was structured and summarizes the researchers' recommendations for using Second Life as a classroom tool. (Kenton Larsen)